Over 1.7 million Americans are living with a limb amputation. Most of those amputations are to the upper body.
There are a number of ways for someone to lose a limb. Many of them are common daily events that we would never expect to harm us. For example, you could lose an arm as the result of a car wreck or workplace accident. You may even face amputation because of a defective product or a dangerous situation on another’s land or property.
You may even lose a limb as the result of medical malpractice such as wrong limb surgery or wrong patient surgery. If your accident was the result of someone else’s negligence, you may have the right to recover compensation for your injuries by hiring a Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer.
Typically, there are at least two types of amputation injury – lower and upper limb. If the lower limb is amputated, it typically means removing a portion of the leg or foot. If the leg is involved, it would be removed either above or below the knee. Some amputations are done at the hip. If an upper limb needs to be removed, it will typically be above or below the elbow.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of ways that an amputation may come about. One of those was premises liability – meaning there is a dangerous condition on a property that harms someone. Most conditions that harm someone relate to poor maintenance, a hazard on a construction site that was not taken care of or overlooked or the poor design of a building. In cases such as this, the term premises liability refers to the duty the owner of the land owes to those who visit. They are bound by law to keep their property safe so that it does not put someone in danger or harm them.
If an accident on the property was the result of poor maintenance, etc. and the end result is an amputation, the plaintiff or entrant may recover compensation for their injuries. If your injuries are the result of a defective product, you may be able to recover from the maker or the seller of the product.
You should know that many product liability lawsuits are based on the doctrine of strict liability. This simply means the maker or seller of the product had a duty to ensure it was safe, that your injury/amputation was caused by the product due to a design or manufacturing defect and that you did not substantially alter the product from its original state.
Given that many amputations are the result of car wrecks, the key to filing a personal injury lawsuit would be the presence of negligence; specifically that the other driver was reckless or careless and caused the injury accident resulting in your loss of a limb. In cases like this, the plaintiff shows the defendant owed them a duty of care, that the duty was breached by their negligence, the breach actually caused the amputation and the plaintiff was the victim of some kind of damage – personal injury or property damage or both.
By now, you get the idea that there are many instances in which someone may lose a limb due to the recklessness of another. If you are in a situation like this currently or have been in a situation like this, do not hesitate to contact a Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer, particularly if your amputation was the result of wrong body part surgery or wrong patient surgery or the result of a misdiagnosis.
You should be able to recover past, present and prospective medical treatment costs, loss of earnings calculated on all lost wages and loss of future earnings and for pain and suffering from the devastating emotional damage of a lost limb and drastic change of life circumstances.
Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.
